What Is the Future of ESPN's Grantland Without Bill Simmons?

One of the very first pieces that Grantland ever published back in the summer of 2011 was an oral history of The National, the cult daily newspaper about sports that launched in 1990. It only lasted 18 months, but in its brief existence, it gathered up a gang of media mega-talent, changed the game of sports journalism, and then blew apart. Bill Simmons has long revered The National, and in addition to the Grantland oral history, Simmons mentioned it multiple times in his public statements about Grantland before it launched.

Even then, even on day one, this obsession with The National always seemed like a coded hint about what Simmons hoped Grantland would become: The National for the digital age, yes, a new kind of sports publication, yes, but also one that—just like its inspiration—would burn bright for a brief time and then vanish.

With the news that Simmons will leave ESPN after fourteen years at the network, everyone this morning is wondering not just about his future but about Grantland’s—and whether it even has a future without the man who launched it. In his statement about Simmons’s departure, ESPN president John Skipper said that the company "remains committed to Grantland." But does Grantland remain committed to ESPN? The Grantland staff—which, full disclosure, is so loaded with former GQ writers and editors that folks here have more than once jokingly referred to it as "GQ West"—is extremely loyal to Simmons, and it’s easy to imagine them walking out the door with him.

By what we hear, almost everyone at Grantland appears to have been blindsided by this news, just like the rest of us. If they leave with him, what is Grantland going forward? Lots of people, both inside ESPN and outside of it, have always believed that Grantland was a sandbox that Simmons’s bosses gave him to keep him happy (and occupied). The folks who run it have done an incredible job of building a great site with a clear and distinct voice in a remarkably short amount of time—but in the ecutive hallway at ESPN, it’s hard to know, and harder to believe, they really care. As good as Grantland often is, compared to the rest of ESPN, it is tiniest fly in the largest horse’s rear-end in the world. Why keep it going without him? Especially if half his staff leaves with him? Does ESPN need Grantland if it no longer has Simmons?

All these questions will play out over the coming months. But it’s probably instructive to remember The National when we think about Grantland’s future. If it was really as much of an inspiration for Simmons as he’s always said it was, then we have our answer: Grantland was built to be great—but it was never built to last.